The present invention pertains to playing card decks and particularly to playing card decks for use in playing the casino game known as blackjack or twenty-one.
Rules to and play of the game of blackjack, often called twenty-one, and numerous variations to the rules are well known in the prior art.
In the play of the card game blackjack, one or more players each play a hand of cards against a hand of cards held and played by the dealer. The object of the game for each player is to achieve a combined count of the card values in their hand that is greater than the combined count of the card values of the dealer""s hand, without exceeding twenty-one, when the combined count of the card values of the dealer""s hand does not exceed twenty-one, or to simply achieve a combined count of the card values in their hand not exceeding twenty-one where the combined count of the card values in the dealer""s hand exceeds twenty-one. Typically one or more standard fifty-two card playing decks are utilized. Each deck is composed of four suits of thirteen cards each; each suit contains one each of numerically indicated cards of two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, one each of the face cards jack, queen and king and each suit also contains an ace. In play of the game blackjack, each numerically indicated card is assigned the value that is numerically indicated, all face cards are assigned the value of ten, and each ace is utilized as either 1 or 11 in such fashion as to achieve the greatest combined count of the card values in a hand without exceeding twenty-one, if possible.
In play of the game of blackjack, the dealer deals two cards to each player and to the dealer. Although, according to variations in the rules, the two cards dealt to each player may be both dealt face up or face down the dealer receives one card face up and one card face down. After two cards are dealt to each player and the dealer, each player in turn may proceed in play with various options depending on variation in the rules such as standing, hitting, splitting and doubling down; in proceeding with play, a player directs the dealer to deal zero, or one or more additional cards to the players hand. If the combined count of the card values in the players hand exceed twenty-one the player immediately loses, but if the combined count of the card values in the players hand does not exceed twenty-one then the players hand remains in play and the next player proceeds to play. After all other players have proceeded, the dealer proceeds last. The dealer, according to the variation of the rules employed is directed to take cards until a combined count of the card values in his hand is at or above a-certain value, typically seventeen.
A two card hand that contains an ace and a card with a value of ten is referred to as a xe2x80x9cblackjack.xe2x80x9d If the dealer""s initially dealt two cards are a xe2x80x9cblackjackxe2x80x9d, then the dealer wins, with the only exception being if the player also has a xe2x80x9cblackjack.xe2x80x9d
It is an objective of casinos to move the hands along as fast as possible at the blackjack tables. Simply, the greater the number of hands that can be played in a given amount of time equates to a greater potential profit for the casinos.
Although blackjack, and particularly blackjack in casinos, is played with one or more standard fifty-two card decks, in play of the game, the suit of any given card is irrelevant, with the value of that card being the single relevant factor for play. Therefore, the suit indicating pips contained on the cards of a standard fifty two card deck are not necessary, and may cause delay in some players, such as the novice player, in that these insignificant indicators congest the information on the card and distract the player from the value indicator. Additionally, in play of blackjack with one or more standard fifty-two card decks, the numerically indicated cards ten as well as the jacks queens and kings are all assigned a value of ten for play; assigning all of these cards with different appearances a value of ten may also cause delay with some players such as the novice player. Still further, in a standard fifty-two card deck, the heart and diamond suit cards are indicated with red value indicators and pips, and the club and spade suit cards are indicated with black value indicators and pips; although insignificant to the play of blackjack, these color indications may also lead to delay with some players.
Unlike blackjack, with other common card games, such as poker, gin rummy and others that utilize a standard fifty-two card playing deck, the suits have significance and the tens, jacks, queens and kings have separate significance from each other. From playing these other common card games, players who also may play blackjack, have learned to take account of the suits of the cards dealt to them and to place separate significance upon tens, jacks, queens and kings.
Although there are many variations in cards known in the prior art that are suitable for use in play of the game of blackjack and for learning strategy in the game of blackjack, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,249 to Sines at al., U.S. Des. Pat. No. 368,284 to Cauda, U.S. Des. Pat. No. 340, 265, U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,048 to Smith, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,549 to Cywar, none of these playing card decks of the prior art is particularly suited to fully facilitate play of the game of blackjack.
It is the objective of the present invention to provide a deck of playing cards that is particularly suited for the play of blackjack and facilitates a player""s ability to rapidly ascertain the value of their hands so that the player can make decisions on the play of the, hand without unnecessary delay.
The objective of the present invention is attained by a deck of fifty-two playing cards of the present invention, which may be utilized in single or multiple deck play.
In a first embodiment of the present invention a playing card deck is provided which consists of fifty-two separate cards. The backs of the cards are all indistinguishable from one another such that the value of any given card cannot be ascertained by viewing the back of the card; the back of the cards may be blank or consist of an ornamental design. Upon the face of each card is indicated the value given to the card. Such indication is preferably provided on face of the card""s upper left hand corner and inverted upon the face of the card""s lower right hand corner so that the value indication appears at the same locations regardless of whether the card has been inverted. The fifty-two card deck is composed of four cards each with value indications of ace, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine, and sixteen cards with value indications of ten. The value indications of the cards are all of the same color and no pips or suit indicators are placed on the cards.
By eliminating the pips and suit indicators, and providing value indicators of a single color, irrelevant and surplus information to the play of blackjack is removed from the face of the cards. Further, with the replacement of the jacks, queens and kings that are ordinarily present in a standard fifty-two card deck with cards with value indicators of ten, the value of these cards is more rapidly ascertained. Additionally, with the elimination of the pips and suit indicators, the value indicators may be easily enlarged so that players with less than optimal eye sight can assess the value of the cards in their hand without undue eye strain, and thereby reduce mistakes in play while increasing their rate of play.
In a second embodiment of the present invention, the fifty two card deck of the first embodiment has additional value indicators of eleven placed in near proximity to the ace value indicators on the ace value cards to remind a player that the ace may be valued at one or eleven.
In a third embodiment of the present invention, the fifty two card deck of the first embodiment has additional value indicators of eleven placed in the center of the face on the ace value cards to remind a player that the ace may be valued at one or eleven.
In a forth embodiment of the present invention, the fifty two card deck of the first embodiment has additional value indicators of eleven placed on the face of the ace value cards in the adjacent upper corner to the corresponding ace value indicator on the upper end of the card and inverted in the adjacent lower corner to the corresponding ace value indicator on the lower end of the card to remind a player that the ace may be valued at one or eleven.
As a further variant in all of the foregoing embodiments, the value indicators may be printed in distinct colors to highlight the significance of certain card values for play of the game. It is believed that by printing the value indicators of the ten value cards a separate and distinct color from the ace and two through nine value cards, and printing the ace value cards a separate and distinct color from the ten and two through nine value cards, leads to more rapid recognition of the combined value of card combinations in a players hand containing these cards. One such coloration scheme that highlights the significance of the ace and ten value cards is to print the two through nine value cards with black value indicators, the ten value cards with red value indicators and the ace value cards with green value indicators.
In the forgoing embodiments of the present invention, with the exception of the ace value cards of the third embodiment, the center of the face of each card of the playing card deck of the present invention contains no depictions or indications relevant to the value of the card, such as with the pips and jack, queen and king depictions in a standard fifty-two card playing card deck. As such, in an additional variation of the playing card decks of the present invention, this central area on the face of the cards of the foregoing embodiments may be utilized to print a casino""s logo or other identifying information as well as for printing advertising. And since this area is upon the face of the card, the material printed in this area does not have to be consistent throughout all of the cards in the deck to prevent the value of the card from being inadvertently disclosed.